The HIDIVE anime streaming platform might be home to mega-hits like Oshi no Ko and The Eminence of Shadow that appeal to a wide audience, but the service is also infamous for simulcasting much more adult-oriented content not suitable for younger audiences than its major competitors. This is definitely not new for HIDIVE, with series like My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog being an obvious example. However, HIDIVE’s winter lineup features a handful of series that highlight overly mature themes, with the debut episode of Chained Soldier already crossing many lines.
Of course, this isn’t to say that other streaming services don’t offer more risque anime content. For example, Crunchyroll’s Domestic Girlfriend flirts with an inappropriate premise. But none of these and many others fail to come even remotely close to Chained Soldier.
The new series from studio Seven Arcs features a unique depiction of slavery and also focuses on a forced and loveless adult relationship. While clearly problematic, the fact that HIDIVE offers this type of anime gives the platform an edge over its competition, since there is a high demand for series that deal with controversial themes like the ones explored in Chained Soldier.
HIDIVE Offers More Mature Content Other Streaming Services Might Ignore
Although revolving around a slave-master relationship, Chained Soldier upends the traditional views of male-female power dynamics. In the world of Chained Soldier, only women are blessed with powers, forcing men to lead mundane lives that often require them to take on relatively mundane tasks like cleaning classrooms. Flipping the script on most anime power fantasies, the protagonist Yuuki Wakura’s only useful skill is housekeeping.
It doesn’t take long before Chained Soldier focuses on humiliating Wakura when he is forced into a dangerous situation that requires him to be saved by super women known as the Demon Defense Force. Ironically, Wakura does prove useful, but only once he agrees to enter into a problematic relationship. Additionally, Wakura is robbed of the one implied benefit that he wrongly assumed he’d be able to enjoy as he isn’t actually a member of the Demon Defense Force. If that weren’t enough, his job while not fighting is that of a housekeeper.
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Chained Soldier also offers a fascinating portrayal of two other themes that many action/adventure anime embrace. It’s a combination of the isekai trope where the protagonist is believed to have a worthless skill that turns out to be quite powerful and the shonen convention where the hero is initially weak and only gains true power through the help of another. In the latter case, it’s assumed that they could never achieve greatness on their own. Popular examples of this are My Hero Academia‘s Deku and Black Clover‘s Asta. Chained Soldier explores this not through Wakura’s character, but Demon Defense Force Commander Kyouka Uzen.
Chained Soldier is Nuanced Despite Its Problematic Plots
Incredibly, all of these themes are captured throughout one episode, serving as yet another example of how HIDIVE’s winter lineup highlights what other streaming services are missing by shying away from mature or controversial content. Although there are other upcoming series simulcasting on HIDIVE this winter, it is notable that one of the new series premiering on the platform explores themes that other anime streaming services might be hesitant to approach.
Chained Soldier and many other anime are now streaming on HIDIVE!
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